John took a long breath. “Not altogether, your Majesty. She is Mr. Carvin’s cousin, and that makes her partly our affair.”
Maria Lalena jumped up from her chair. “Oh,” she cried, “then you are—now isn’t that splendid? I see now, you came straight from the Black Ghost’s den.”
“No,” I said, “not quite. We were forcibly detained at Visichich Manor last night—”
“Visichich Manor?” Yolanda spoke almost crossly. “I thought you said you were prisoners in the Black Ghost’s mountain stronghold. Surely you don’t think that they are the same?”
“Oh, no,” John was gently explanatory. “We were held in both places.”
“In two days?”
“A day and a half.”
Maria Lalena laughed as though she were pleased. “Americans are like that,” she approved. “And I’m so excited to see you. I know who you are now. I knew you were coming, you see. I—”
Queen Yolanda interrupted her with a quick sentence in Alarian. She flushed, sat down again, and went on more hesitantly. “Now I feel as though I had some real friends here.”
Yolanda sat staring at her stonily. “You have many friends,” she said severely. “These gentlemen—”